Description
Book SynopsisMichel Chion is renowned for his explorations of the significance of frequently overlooked elements of cinema, particularly the role of sound. In this inventive and inviting book, Chion considers how cinema has deployed music. He shows how music and film not only complement but also transform each other.
Trade ReviewMichel Chion is the most influential sound scholar working today. In
Music in Cinema, he examines film music through expansive, multiple lenses, combining histories of different practices with theoretical and analytical insights. Claudia Gorbman’s expert translation retains Chion’s engaging writing style, combining its quirky phrasing and shrewd observations. An intellectual delight. -- Caryl Flinn, University of Michigan
Ever since his first book on cinema, I have been fascinated by Michel Chion’s approach to sound, music, and speech in relation to the moving image. Without fail, he proposes startlingly original perspectives on movies ranging from the well-known to the rare and obscure.
Music in Cinema combines new historical frameworks with significant aesthetic insights, illustrated through hundreds of films. -- Michel Marie, professor emeritus of film studies, University of Paris III
Michel Chion is the world’s leading scholar of the film soundtrack, and Music in Cinema is one of his greatest works. Clearly written and jargon-free, this account of music in cinema will interest readers from students to film buffs to scholars. I appreciated Chion’s personal spin on this subject and found him making me reevaluate what I thought I knew about soundtrack music. -- Alan Williams, author of Republic of Images: A History of French Filmmaking
A highly recommended title and a celebration of the two art forms: film music/film audio and the art of shooting pictures. * Pop Culture Shelf *
Table of ContentsTranslator’s Note
Preface
Introduction: Music Redefined by Cinema
Part I: Historical Perspectives1. Dreams and Realities: 1895–1935
2. Classicism to Modernism: 1935–1975
3. Back to the Future: 1975–1995
4. Whither Film Music? 1996–2020
Part II: The Three Faces of Music in Cinema5. Music as Element and Means
6. Music as World
7. Music as Subject, Metaphor, and Model
By Way of Conclusion
Glossary
Notes
Index
